Articles by Eleanor Stratton

Reflecting Pool Vandalism: What Federal Law Covers

You can stand at the Lincoln Memorial, look down the National Mall, and feel like you are standing inside the country’s shared memory. That is part of why vandalism stories involving the Reflecting Pool resonate so strongly. The Pool is not just a tourist backdrop. It is part of the National Mall...

Can Religion Disqualify Someone From Public Office?

You can feel the tension in the question because it lives at the intersection of two American instincts: the desire to judge leaders by character and the fear that government will start judging citizens by creed. That is why the Constitution, unusually early and unusually bluntly, draws a bright...

What Is the Filibuster?

You can spot a filibuster fight a mile away because it always sounds like a constitutional argument. One side says the Senate is being “paralyzed.” The other says the Senate is doing what it was designed to do: cool the passions of the moment. But the filibuster itself is neither a constitutional...

What Is TPS? How Temporary Protected Status Works and Why Haiti TPS Can End

Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, is one of the most misunderstood parts of U.S. immigration law because the word protected can sound like a permanent guarantee. It is not. TPS exists because Congress wrote a statute that lets the executive branch temporarily shield certain people already in the...

Can a President Renovate the White House Without Congress?

You can feel the constitutional nerve being touched whenever a president says, in effect, This is my house to secure and improve , and critics respond, You are a temporary occupant , and a court could ultimately agree in some form. To be clear, what follows is not a report about a specific, current...

After the Affirmative Action Ruling: What Colleges and Law Schools Can Still Consider

When the Supreme Court decided Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina in 2023, it did not say colleges must ignore a student’s life story. It held that the specific race-conscious admissions programs before it violated the Equal...

How a Government Shutdown Works

A government shutdown sounds like the whole United States government goes dark at once, like someone flipped a master breaker in the Capitol basement. In reality, a shutdown is something more mundane and more constitutional than that. It is what happens when Congress does not enact funding...

Can You Protest Outside a Church? First Amendment Limits and New Penalties Explained

You can protest outside a church. In many situations, it is classic First Amendment activity: speech, assembly, petition, all happening on a public sidewalk where Americans have always argued about public questions. But you cannot turn “protest” into a veto on worship. The Constitution protects...

Can Mail Ballots Be Counted After Election Day?

Every election cycle, the same question comes roaring back: if Americans vote on Tuesday, why are officials still counting on Friday, or next week, or sometimes longer? That confusion gets sharper when lawmakers point to a single rule they want nationwide: all mail ballots must be received by the...

Haiti TPS Explained: What Temporary Protected Status Is and What Court Orders Change

Temporary Protected Status sounds like something the Constitution must mention somewhere, tucked between “naturalization” and “habeas corpus.” It does not. TPS is not a constitutional right. It is a statute, a policy tool Congress created and the executive branch administers. That distinction is...

California Emissions Waivers Explained

California has more influence over what cars you can buy than most states have over their own speed limits. That sounds like a punchline until you read the statute. Under the federal Clean Air Act , California can ask the Environmental Protection Agency for permission to set vehicle emissions rules...

Treason and Leaks: What the Constitution Actually Says

When public officials call leaks “treason,” they are usually making a moral accusation, not describing a charge that fits the Constitution’s definition. That distinction matters because the Framers did something rare in constitutional drafting: they fixed the meaning of treason in the text itself....

Wayne County Vote Counts and Mail-In Ballots: What the Constitution and Michigan Law Allow

Every election cycle has a familiar soundtrack: a big county becomes a villain, mail ballots become suspicious by definition, and ordinary administrative steps get rebranded as “miracles.” Wayne County, home to Detroit, sits at the center of that storyline in Michigan. So let’s slow it down and...

What Is House Censure?

Censure is one of those congressional words that sounds like it should come with a legal consequence. Like the member is disqualified, removed, or at least forced to pack up their office that afternoon. It does not work that way. When the House of Representatives “censures” a member, it is issuing...

Can States Require ICE Agents to Remove Masks? The Constitutional Question

Editor’s note: The earlier version of this piece described a specific New York statute (S.9193A/A.10172), a Department of Justice lawsuit, and a temporary restraining order by Judge Dale E. Ho on August 4, 2024, and it included purported quotes from that order. We could not verify those claims, and...

Denaturalization: When the Government Can Revoke U.S. Citizenship

American citizenship feels like a one-way door. You take the oath, you get the certificate, you become a citizen. End of story. But there is a legal back door. It is called denaturalization , and it is exactly what it sounds like: the government asks a court to undo a naturalization and treat the...

What Is a Continuing Resolution?

When Washington starts using the phrase “continuing resolution” , it usually means one thing: Congress is running out of time to fund the government the normal way. That is why you will see headlines about Senate leaders signaling support for a short-term funding bill to clear a “shutdown hurdle.”...

Can a President Withdraw U.S. Troops Without Congress?

The Constitution gives the President the title that sounds decisive: Commander in Chief . But it gives Congress the powers that make wars and deployments sustainable: declaring war, raising and supporting armies, regulating the military, and paying for it . That tension is why calls for a President...

Can the President Control the Smithsonian?

The Smithsonian feels like a national attic. It holds the stuff we cannot quite throw away: artifacts, documents, aircraft, dresses, protest signs, dinosaur bones, and the stories we attach to all of it. That is why fights over its exhibits keep turning into fights over the country itself. When a...

Reflecting Pool Protest or Vandalism? Federal Law on the National Mall

The National Mall feels like common ground. People march there, pray there, celebrate there, and sometimes rage there. It is the country’s symbolic front yard. But it is not a legally blank space. It is federally managed land, with a permit system, enforceable regulations, and criminal statutes...